Turmoil-ridden Dana Point library group elects new board

Friends of the Dana Point Library has a newly elected board of directors after months of infighting and the closure of the nonprofit organization's bookstore, but there are still issues to be resolved.

An election Sunday at the Dana Point Library, a branch of Orange County Public Libraries, resulted in four new board members supported by the Friends' current board. None of the current board members ran for re-election.

A group that opposes the current directors and tried to recall them supported four candidates who lost.

The new board members are Carol Wassman, president; Rick Conner, vice president; Mary Mashoof, treasurer; and Carrie Karas, secretary. They will officially take over Jan. 1.

INFIGHTING

The current board has been embroiled in a dispute with a group of former Friends bookstore managers and volunteers called Save Our Bookstore. The Friends operates the store inside the library at 33841 Niguel Road, selling donated books and other items at discount prices to help support the library.

Save Our Bookstore alleges the board wrongfully dismissed volunteers and managers, denied memberships and forced resignations of many people who once worked for the bookstore and illegally changed some of the organization's bylaws.

Board members say they acted in response to allegations of inappropriate behavior against some Friends volunteers and members.

Save Our Bookstore organized an election for October to recall all the directors, but the vote was blocked by an Orange County Superior Court judge who agreed with the board's contention that the opposition's methods in calling the election violated state law and the organization's bylaws. The judge added that a recall vote was unnecessary with the regular board election coming in December.

The board filed a lawsuit accusing the opposition of defaming the board members and disrupting the bookstore's operation. The suit calls for an end to "false statements" by former volunteers who say they were "fired."

On Nov. 1, OC Public Libraries closed the bookstore, saying Friends of the Dana Point Library has no formal agreement with the county to operate it. OCPL plans to keep the store shut until Friends has a license to run it, according to an Oct. 29 letter from Jacqueline Guzman, a deputy county counsel. That could come after the county Board of Supervisors votes on the issue.

The supervisors are scheduled Tuesday to consider a draft license agreement that, if approved, would be required of all similar bookstores at county-operated libraries.

ELECTION

A total of 265 validated ballots were cast Sunday, including former volunteers and store managers who were allowed to vote as members.

Friends member Skip Hornbeck and current board President Terry Inouye got in a heated exchange when Hornbeck entered the polling room before voting officially opened. Inouye ordered Hornbeck to leave and slammed the door on him.

Election inspectors were former Dana Point Mayor Lara Anderson; Mary Lombard, president of a Veterans of Foreign Wars ladies auxiliary; and Shirley Sauvageau, president of the California Retired Teachers Association.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Paul Strauss, leader of Save Our Bookstore, said the group will contest the election. He said the board would not let Save Our Bookstore review the election materials. He entered the meeting room after the vote and got in an argument with board members before they left.

Inouye left shortly after the vote with the election materials and counted ballots. Only the candidates, board members and news media were allowed in the room where the ballots were counted.

"At this point they've won the election," said Barbara Anderson, the candidate for board president supported by Save Our Bookstore. "They have one year. ... We gave it our best shot, and the members have spoken."

Anderson said she will continue to be a Friends member but likely will not volunteer in the bookstore.

Karas, the secretary-elect, said she believes the Friends' internal conflict can be worked out. "Most of the people in that group were fine," she said of the former volunteers, adding that only about three people were breaking rules. She said she would be open-minded about allowing the return of some of the volunteers dismissed by the current board.

BOOKSTORE'S FUTURE

"The bottom line for me in all of this is I just want to get our store open at this point," said Conner, the newly elected vice president.

"It needs to be open," said Wassman, the president-elect. "It's not doing anyone any good to be closed."

The Friends is circulating a petition calling on the county to reopen the store.

County Librarian Helen Fried said in November that the Dana Point closure was the first of its kind.

LAWSUIT

It is unclear what the new board will do with the current directors' lawsuit against Save Our Bookstore.

Karas said she hadn't reviewed the lawsuit documents and wouldn't comment until she had. Mashoof, the treasurer-elect, also declined to comment, as did Wassman, who said, "I didn't really know this infighting was going on. Once I'm given all the information, I will have more to say."

Conner, however, said he supports the lawsuit.

"I have lost all sympathy ... for them," Conner said of the opposition group. "I'm going to try to press forward. ... They need to be taught a lesson."

Still, Conner said that if Fried reopens the bookstore soon, he might consider voting to discontinue the lawsuit.

Friends member Carolyn Hopkins, who recently retired as a children's librarian at the Dana Point branch, said the suit is ridiculous. She voted in favor of the candidates backed by Save Our Bookstore.

Mary-Jo Brennan, a member of Save Our Bookstore, said she hopes the new board will drop the case. "It is a waste of funds," she said.